brooks pled guilty in may to lying to the fbi about making payments to fringe candidate soliman brown. he is one of three former aides to plead guilty to corruption. >>> the democratic national convention appears to have given president obama a boost, but the race for president remains tight. he leads mitt romney by six points among all voters according to the latest "washington post/abc news poll. however, the president leads his republican rival by just a single point among likely voters. the convention also did little to change how voters think of obama's presidency. just 48% of them approve of his performance. 50% disapprove. >>> just to give you a sense of how hotly contested this election is, the campaigns and outside groups have already spent more than $500 million in radio ads since march. most of the money is flowing into florida, ohio and virginia. in fact, campaigns and groups have spent more than $300 million in those three states alone. that's more than half the total spent. >>> one of d.c.'s largest high-end shopping events kicks off today. this year's event is being hel